Varifocal telescope lens system



Dec. 5, 1961 H. DLuTzlK VARIFOCAL TELEscoPE LENS SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 16, 1959 k RAI on m mm m E07/ O www w H B 1|TJQ wm Aww.

Dec. 5, 1961 H. DLurzlK VARIF'OCAL TELESCOPE LENS SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 16, 1959 MGE llNvENToR Heinz Dluizik BWM/V ATTO R N EY United States Patent C) 3,011,403 VARIFDCAL TELESCOPE LENS SYSTEM Heinz Dlutzik, New York, N.Y., assigner to Zoomar, Inc., Glen Cove, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 853,027 2 Claims. (Cl. 88-57) rthis invention relates to telescopes or binoculars and particularly telescopes or binoculars of variable magniiication.

Telescopes of variable magnification have been discussed in the prior `art and in previous publications. Such devices, however, were chiey directed toward the structure whereby a more or less stationary image could be produced within the systems, and did not direct themselves toward the problem of correcting the aberrations of such a system to the extent necessary to produce an image comparable in quality to Ithat of a standard telescope or binocular.

It has previously been disclosed that a varifocal systern could only be corrected by keeping the diierent aberrations constant throughout the zoom regardless of their numerical amount and correct the stabilized image delfects in a standard rear system. Such correction was possible in prior art devices which were primarily lenses for photography, cinematography and television. The rear system usually reduced the image produced by the varifocal system and thereby improved the image quality even further than that brought about by the correction introduced by the rear (relay) system. However, in the optical system of a telescope it is not possible to achieve the correction previously brought about Aby the rear system because a telescope is of necessity afocal and therefore, produces an image of indeterm-inate size. Any reduction that a standard relay system produces would be offset by the magnification of the eye piece if a certain given magnification or (power) of the system is -to be maintained.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a telescope or binocular of variable magnification which is optically compensated for image shifts.

Another object ofthe present invention is to provide a telescope in which the image quality is comparable to that of a standard telescope.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a telescope or binocular in which the distortion of the varifocal front system is very small.

An object of the present invention is to provide a varifocal telescope or binocular having a small overall size.

Still another object of the present invention is to prolof a wide angle corrective lens system as of an eye piece.

The invention consists of the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as herein illustrated, described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, is illustrated one form of embodiment of the invention, and in which:

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FIGURE l is a somewhat diagrammatic longitudinal section taken through a varifocal telescope lens system, a complete embodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a View similar to FIGURE l with a movable lens element shown at the opposite end of their travel from that of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 3 is an isometric view of the Porro prisms used Iin the present device with the path of a light ray shown in dashed lines to indicate its travel therethrough.

In the study of the varifocal lens system it has been found that spherical aberrations, coma, astigmatism, field curvature and chromatic defects can be stabilized, but that distortion can generally be reduced only by distributing it in such a way that at one end of the zoom there is a pin cushion distortion and at the other end of the zoom a barrel distortion. Since a modern binocular or telescope has to be provided with a wide angle eye piece (60 apparent angle of held) and since such an eye piece introduces a considerable amount of barrel distortion of its own it has been found that satisfactory performance of a varifocal telescope or binocular can only be achieved by distributing the distortion of the varifocal front system in such a way that, in the middle position the pin cushion distortion is numerically equal to the barrel distortion of the eye piece.

ln order to keep the aberrations small the combination of glasses used in the Varifocal front system results in a stable but large amount of chromatic aberrations, especially lateral color. This lateral color is so strong that a special type of eye piece is required to compensate for it.

The varifocal lens system herein described consists generally of a single negative front lens 16 which forms a fixed stationary image, a positive movable lens combination 11 which changes the size of the image formed by the front lens7 a negative stationary lens combination 12 consisting of a single lens 12a and a cemented doublet 12b, 12C, both of negative power to invert the image formed by components 10 and 11 of the movable lens combination. and a second positive movable cornponent 13 consisting of two cemented doublets 13a, 13b, 13C, 13d, each of positive power. The second movable component keeps the image received from the negative lens combination 12 fixed in space regardless of the position of lens groups 11 and 13. The lens components 10, 11, 12, 13, form the objective of the telescope and is followed by a component erecter system 14 consisting of three lenses 16, 17, 1S (positive, negative, positive, in the direction of the light) and two Porro prisms 19, 20, of standard design. The compound erector again inverts the image. Behind the erector 14 there is a wide angle eye piece 21 which is designed in such a way that it olsets the lateral color produced by the varifocal objective system and which is only partially compensated for by the erector 14. The eye piece collimates and magniiies the image produced by the ob- `ective.

It has been found that in order to keep the lens aberrations of the varifocal system stable while at the same time restricting the 'amount of distortion to a minimum, certain relations between the refractive power of the several surfaces, lenses and lens combinations must be ma-intained. In the following description the order of the lenses and lens surfaces will be enumerated in the direction of the light paths, that is, in the direction of light coming from the object to the eye.

As used herein the symbol e indicates the power of lenses and lens groups. The symbol qb stands for surfaces.

The front lens 10 is a bi-concave lens where the ratio of the power e1 of the front surface R1 to the power p2 of 'the rear surface R2 is at least .35 but not more than .70 or,

In the first movable lens group 11 consisting of lenses 11a, 11b, the power 4+5 of the two inner surfaces R4, R5, adjacent the air gap S2, is substantially stronger than the sum of the powers 3+6 of the outer surfaces R3, Re, facing the variable air spaces S1, S3, on either side of the movable lens group 11. The sum of the surface powers of said inner surfaces R4, R5, is at least five times but not more than eight times as strong as the sum of the powers of the said outer surfaces, or:

In the second stationary group consisting of lenses 12a, 12b, 12C, the power l2z of the first single lens 12a is preferably at least .35 but not more than .70 of the power tD12 of the lens group 12, or:

The cemented doublet 12b, 12C, of the second stationary lens group 12 is of such a shape that the ratio of the power e9 of its front surface R9 to the power pl 1, of its rear surface R11 is at least .9G but not more than 1.40 or:

The second movable lens group 13 consists of lenses 13a, 13b, 13C, 13d, and must fulll the following conditions: The power (p12 of the front surface R12 and the power p14 of the rear surface R14 of the lirst doublet 13a, 13b, are both collective and must both have a power p12, p14, of at least .40 but not more than .70 of the total power @13 of the second movable lens group 13, or:

The second doublet 13e, 13d, which serves mainly for corrective purposes and has very little power of its own has a front surface R15 of the power 1115 which is at least .60 but not more than .95 of the total power L l3 of the second movable lens group 13, or:

while the total power @13H-@13d of this second doublet 13e, 13d, is at least .16 but not more than .25 of the total power lE13 of said second movable lens group 13, or

The front system has its aberrations stabilized independent of the zoom position. However, the numerical value of these aberrations is relatively large. In order for the present invention to operate satisfactorily it has been found that a special erecting system is required. In order to prevent the exit pupil from shifting during the zoom the aperture stop of the telescope is not formed by the front lens as is usual, but by the erector system 15. This system generally indicated at 14 in FIGURES 1, 2, employs a specially designed triplet 15', comprising lenses 16, 17, 18, in addition to the Porro prism systems 19, 20. The first lens system 16 of `15' forms the aperture of the telescope so that the exit pupil remains stationary.

In order for the lenses of the said erecting system `14 to reduce the large aberrations sufficiently to achieve an image quality comparable to that of good single magnification telescopes despite its relatively wide magnification if range of 1 to 4, the following relations must be mairitained:

The absolute value of the ratio of the power 1l6, o f the lirst lens 15 to the power i 17 of the lens 17 should be at least .5 but not more than .85, or:

The small air gap S8 between lens 1e and 17 is treated as a lens and the absolute ratio of the refractive power M9, p20, of the adjacent surfaces R19, R26, of the said air lens has to be .55 but not more than .95 or:

The second air gap Sg is similarly treated as a lens and the absolute numerical value olf the 'ratio of the powers 1121, 1122 of its adjacent surfaces is at least .9 but not more than 1.5 or:

The last element 18 of the erector lens system 15 is a menicus with an absolute power ratio of its two surfaces of at least .60 but not more than .95 or The remainder of the erector system 14 consists of two Porro prisms 19, 20, of conventional shape. vHowever, while in the known prism erecting systems a ground glass of low dispersion (high Abbe number) is used, in the present invention a highly dispersive dense flint is used to achieve the necessary color correction.

The eyepiece 21 of the present device consists of a specially constructed wide angle magnifier which, by the use of modern rare earth glasses, combines a wide apparent lield angle with just the right amount of aberrations of opposite direction to offset the aberrational residue of the objective lenses. it also provides a low pupil aberration and at the same time sufcient eye relief. Referring to FIGURE 1 it will be noted that the construction of the eyepiece consists in the direction of the light, of a dispersive cemented doublet 22, 23 two collective single lenses 24, 25, and a collective doublet 26 and 27. The power of the several lenses and surfaces within the eyepiece 21 has to be distributed in the following way:

The total power 23 to 1126 of all of the components 23, 24, 25, 26, has to be at least 11/2 times but not more than 2.3 times the power @2l of the entire eyepiece 21, or:

The first surface of the eyepiece 21 mainly determines the position of the exit pupil and thereby the eye relief. The ratio of the radius r25 of the second (cemented) surface to the radius r26 of the rear surface has to be at least .70 but not more than 1.25 or:

The air gap S12 lwhich forms an air lens has to have a power ratio between its adjacent surfaces of at least .70 but not more than 1.25, or

The radii F31, rag, of the component `26er" the rear positive doublet 26, 27, have a ratio with the absolute value of at least 3.5 but not more than 5.0 while the nega- M.. uns

tive component 27 of said doublet 26, 27, has an absolute ratio between its front surface radius ra and rear surface radius rsa of at least .3() but not more than .60, or

6 Radius, thickness and spacing in millimeters BaSFZ--barium dense flint BaF5=barium Hint SK15=dense crown 3 5 [E[ 5-0 5 SF5=denseilint T32 SK2=dense crown SF 8=dense flint 30 lf| 0 LaK3=lanthanum crown T33 SF18=derise flint In FIGURE 3 it will be seen that light entering the 10 SFS5etra @ense mt SF2: dense flint Porro prism 19 rrom the varifocal front system is re- SK d ected twice from the surfaces of the said prism 19 into L 15'- nslcmwn the second prism 20 where it is again reected twice and S, 8g an TM/1m Crown directed into the eye piece 21. It is also within the pur- 4* ense m view of the present invention to place the erector prisms l5 Having thus fully described the invention, what is 19, 20, in front of the triplet corrective lens system 15 claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters 1f so desired. Such a construction may serve to shorten Patent ofthe United States, is: the overall length of the lens system. 1. A lens system for a vai'ifocal binocular comprisin -An example of a lens system of variable magnification in the order of the direction of the incident light, a varifor a telescope or binocular according to the present in- 20 focal objective comprisin a front lens ot nefative power n a n n g vention is: to receive light coming from an object and form a xed,

Thickness (d) and Glass Index Abbe No. Lens No. Radius (r) (mm.) Air Spacing (s) (Cat. (N D) Disper- Ref.) sion (V) Front System:

=-262. 71 10 di =2.00 BeSFi 1.664 35. ss

si =4l182 to 2.07 n =|624. 99 11a di =4. 00 BaFi 1.607 49, 25

82 50 n =+es. 93 iib di =4. 06 BaFi 1. 607 49. 25

n =-46s. si

sa =0. 87 t0 39. 62 r,- =-162. i9 12a di =2.06 SK 1. 623 5s. 12

84 =1. 70 rg =78.08 12b d5 =2. 6o SK 1. 623 5s. 12

ri-622.68 12e d6 :4. 5s SF; 1. 673 32. 23

rii=+97. 71

3F39. 87 to 1.12 T12=l74.48 l 13a d1 =6. 00 SK: 1. 607 56. 66

T13=25- U0 13b di =2. 60 SFI 1.689 31.15

86 =0. 50 nF4-51.90 13e d; =5. 9o LaKa 1.693 53. 51

fis= -32. 5S 13d dio=2 00 SFN 1.721 29. 23

s1 =1. 25 Erector Lenses l5 Tis=|-56. 70 16 du=4. 60 SF65 1.762 26. 92

.es =4. o0 fz6=52. 75 17 di2=2. o0 5K1 1. 589 6i. 24

8u =4.0 T22=48- 48 i8 d13=3. 50 sFia 1.762 29. 28

ris=36 43 3i0=2. 00 Erector Prisms 19 SF2 1. 648 33. 88

and 2o. dii=96 00 5F23. 63 Eye Piece 21:

rii=13. 73 22 di5=12. 0o SF2 1. 64s 33. 88

Tz5=+33.45 23 d1=8. 00 SKS 1.589 61. 24

TMF-33.45

s12=0.3o f27=+1, 24S. 00 24 di1=6. 50 LaKS i. 713 53. 89

TEF-40. 60

313=0. 30 T2g=|38. 18 Y 25 dii1=6. 00 LBKE l. 713 53. S9

3i4=0. 30 nF4-19,5@ 26 dii=7. 60 SK i. 529 6i. 24

T32=80.G0 27 d20=2 60 SF 1.755 27. 53

3,01 inca stationary image thereof, a first positive lens combination axially slidable with respect to the front lens to change the size of the image formed by the front lens, said positive lens combination comprising a first and second positive lens element coupled together and separated by a fixed air space from each other, an inner surface R4, R5, on each of the first and second positive lens elements facing the xed air space, a variable air space on each side of the rst and second positive lenses opposite the xed air space, outer surfaces R2, R6, on the positive lenses facing the variable air spaces, said inner surfaces of the first and second positive lens elements facing the fixed air space being at least five times but not more than eight times as strong as the sum of the outer surfaces of said positive lenses to fulfill the condition:

where qb is the power of the lens surface, a stationary negative lens combination air spaced from the positive lens combination to invert the image received from said positive lens combination, said stationary lens combination comprising a single negative lens, said single lens having a power I l2a of more than .35 but not more than .70 of the power I l2 of the entire lens combination or, .35l I l21 l2a| .7OI i l2| and a negative cemented doublet having a front surface R2 and a rear surface R11 such that the ratio of its front surface to its rear surface is at least .90 but not more than 1.40 to fulfill the condition R9 .90 R11 1.4O

a second positiveA lens combination axially slidable with respect to the front lens to receive the image from the stationary lens combination and maintain it substantially stationary in space throughout the movement of the first positive lens combination, said second positive lens combination comprising a first and second cemented doublet of positive power air spaced from each other and coupled together, said first and second doublet having front and rear surfaces R12, R14, and R15, R17, respectively, the front and rear surfaces of the first doublet having a power l2 or pl4 respectively of at least .40 but not more than .70 of the total power of the second slidable lens group or and the front surface R15, of the second doublet having a power which is at least .6G but not more than .95 of the total power of the second slidable group to fulfill the condition:

and the total power of the second doublet is at least .16 but not more than .25 of the total power of the said second slidable lens combination 13C, i3d to fulfill the condition:

said obgective being adapted to substantially stabilize the image defects over the entire range of magnification, a compound erector system to receive the light from the second positive lens combination, correct the stabilized aberrations, and reverse the image, said erector system comprising a first positive erector lens 16, a negative erector lens 17, and a second positive erector lens 18, the absolute value of the ratio of the power of the first positive erector lens to the power of the negative erector lens is at least .50 but not more than .85 or:

3 a small fixed air lens S8 between the rst positive erector lens and the negative erector lens, surfaces R19, R211, on the said erector lenses on each side of the air lens, said surfaces having a ratio of absolute refractive power of at least .50 but not more than .95 or:

a second air lens S2 between negative erector lens and the second positive erector lens, adjacent surfaces R21, R22, on the air lens, said surfaces having an absolute power ratio of at least .90 but not more than 1.5 or:

said second positive erector lens having two surfaces R22, R23, with an absolute power ratio of at least .60 but not more than .95 or:

a first and a second Porro prism, said erector lenses being separated by fixed air spaces, and a wide angle eye piece comprising a dispersive doublet, a first surface R22, a second, cemented, surface R25 and a rear surface R26 on said doublet, the absolute ratio of the second surface lR25 to the rear surface R21,- being at least .70 but not more than 1.25 or:

a first and second lens of collective power, a fixed air gap S13 forming an air lens between the first and second lens of collective power, surfaces R28, R22, on the said first and second collective lens on each side of the air gap S12, said surfaces having a power ratio of at least .70 but not more than 1.25 or:

and a collective doublet having a positive and a negative component, said positive component having a ratio of the radii of its front surface R31 to its rear surface R22with the absolute value of at least 3.5 but not more than 5.0 and the negative, component of said doublet having an absolute ratio between the radius of, it front surface R32 and its rear surface R33 of at least .30 but not more than .60 or:

said eye piece being adapted to receive the image from the erector system and colimate and magnify the said image.

'2. A lens system for a vanifocal binocular according to claim l in which the lens and prism elements conform to the following characteristics wherein,

ND is the refractive index for the D line,

V is the Abbes dispersion number,

BaSF-2 stands for barium dense flint,

BaF5 stands for barium flint,

SKlS, 8K2, SKS, stand for dense crown SFS, SFS, SFliS, SF2, SP4, stand for dense flint 8F85 stands for extra dense flint LaK3, LaK, stand for lanthanum crown 

